Some Enchanted Evening
by HiddenScribe
Summary: Brian and Meg share a late night discussion that doesn't end well for one of them. Prologue for further stories.


_I will never stop being amazed at how the stars lit up the sky_, Brian thought as he took another drag of his cigarette, pulling the smoke deep into his lungs. It had been almost a week since he'd been able to enjoy the night air, and he very much planned on making up for the last time. He was sitting on his favourite ratty blanket, his cigarettes at hand, and he was not planning on moving anytime soon.

"I thought that rain would never end," he muttered, smoke seeping from his mouth into the air around him. He waited for the familiar feeling of an addiction well filled, his nerves rough and needing soothing. It had been a long week of Peter's fuck-ups and Stewie's insanity. The rain meant he was trapped inside for most of the day. Lois hated him smoking anything in the house and had banned him from even leaning out a window. If it had been for anyone else, he wouldn't care, but when it came to Lois…

Raising the cigarette back to his mouth, he inhaled again, trying to stop his imagination in its tracks. Lois was the last thing he wanted to think about right now. A week of watching her walk from room to room, reaching for items in cupboards, bending over the pick up laundry baskets, it was almost impossible for him to focus on anything else.

Reaching under the blanket, he pulled out his trusty flask. The cap unscrewed, he took a slug, letting the familiar burn work its magic. The lust began to release him, but before he could feel relieved, something worse began to ensnare his mind.

He started to think of her as more than just a hot redhead. He started to think of her as a person. The way she hummed off-key while she cooked, or the way she knew how to make any drink he asked for. The scent of her perfume or hearing her wonderfully obnoxious laugh fill the air as she watched television. God, she had awful taste in humour. "And I don't even care… "

"Care about what?" came a voice from behind him. Looking over his shoulder he saw Meg standing in the grass, still wearing her normal clothes, though her hat was missing. "Whatcha doin' Brian?"

"Oh, Hey Meg. N-Nothing," he said quickly, not wanting another lecture from her about being a booze hound. He thrust the flash back under the blanket. "Just getting some fresh air, reflecting on the day… you know how it is."

Stopping beside Brian, she shrugged down at him. "Chill out Brian, I already know you're drinking out here. I don't blame you after the past seven days."

Brian was a bit taken aback at Meg's tone. He had to admit, these moments of cynicism were happened more and more often. He also had to admit that it wasn't a bad thing. "They were getting to you too?"

"God, yes." To his further surprise, Meg pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her own back pocket. This was new.

"Need a light?" he offered. His tail was beginning to wag and suddenly he felt like an evening with Meg might not be so bad.

She sat down beside him and accepted his lighter's flame gratefully. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

For several moments the pair smoked in silence. Then Meg ground her cigarette out in the cool dirt in front of them, exhaling smoke through her nose as she did. Brian glanced over as she straightened up, taking her in. He realized that of all the members of the Griffin family, Meg was the one he knew the least. Their paths rarely crossed, and she tended to spend her time up in her room, alone in the world of a teenage girl, one that Brian hardly understood. He tended to sit on the couch reading whenever he was at home, or watching the news and yelling. Politics and Philosophy were subjects Meg never cared for, and so they continued on their separate ways, never bumping into one another. All he really knew about her was that she was an average girl, one who had to stand against a pretty tough world and had more than a few issues because of it. She had maybe half a friend, no relationships, hell; even her family didn't try to respect her. And why?

He didn't really know.

"It's really nice out here," she said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," he said. "I like to come out here when the house starts to get to me."

She smiled again, weakly this time. "I know what you mean. Chris and dad should be banned from breathing the same air." She tilted her head back to the sky and closed her eyes, letting the cool air wash over her. Her hair fell back, loose now that it was free from its knitted prison.

Brian was fully turned towards her now, and he took advantage of her closed eyes to examine her closely. While Peter's features did mar the image slightly, she actually looked a lot more like her mother than he'd ever realized. Her hair was a different colour, yes, but they had the same nose, the same eye shape, the same full lips… "Meg, you're really pretty," he blundered out, realizing too late that he'd had slightly too much to drink.

Her eyes opened wide with surprise as she looked at him, and he braced for impact. Instead, amazingly, she was unfazed. "Thank Brian," she said, sounding pleased. "I like to think I'm out growing the whole ugly duckling thing."

He had no idea how to respond to that, so he simply nodded, trying to keep the awkwardness to a minimum. Another long pause stretched between them, once again broken by Meg.

"I could just stay here and stare at the stars forever, Brian. If I could be anything other than me, I'd be a star."

"What do you mean?"

She had tilted her head back again, the beauty of the sky reflecting off her glasses. "Every star is always in the same place in the sky, no matter how many nights go by. They never move, never get closer to any other star. It's like they all have their individual space." Her voice was low and warm, and Brian found himself becoming actually interested in what she was saying. "They get to have all the personal space they need, already premeasured. A comet or an asteroid might visit, but most of the time? They get to be all alone, without anyone around to judge them or hurt them. They just… exist." Her expression became one of longing as she stared into the void above them. "They're always safe, because they have nothing but themselves."

Brian was hearing her words echo around his head, stripping the layers of emotion off one by one. Bitterness, desperation, sorrow, anger- They were all there, blending together into one low injured tone that he could hardly stand to hear.

He didn't know what to say. Reaching under the blanket, he withdrew the flask, and opened the lid. Without a word, he offered it to her. She glanced down at the shining metal with an expression Brian couldn't read. What was he doing? She was hardly seventeen for God's sake! She wouldn't drink with him, and he shouldn't be encouraging her-

The warmth of her fingers brushing his broke his thoughts. She took the flask and drank, wiping her mouth when she finished. "Thanks Brian,"

"Hey," he said, trying to be smooth, "Anytime."

Forty minutes later they were lying on their backs in the grass, their heads next to each other in a puzzle of shoulders and necks. They were both slightly drunk, watching the hazy clouds float by the stars and the moon. For the past half hour they'd been trading stories back and forth about old flames, mostly stories from Brian. Meg had lit yet another cigarette for each of them, and the smoke spiralled above, vanishing into the sky. Her normally husky voice had become scratched even further by the smoke and flame and Brian could hardly believe something so damned sexy could be pouring from Meg Griffin's lips. "He still calls me sometimes," she was explaining, "and I go because, well…. It's nice to have someone be nice to me.

"I just had no idea you were still seeing Mayor West. Seeing you there, all dressed up… it was a shock."

"You didn't tell mom, did you?" Her eyes narrowed down at him as she sat up.

"What? Meg, no, no, of course not. If you want to date somebody, anybody, that's your business. Not Lois', or anyone else's'"

The suspicion eased from her face. "Thanks Brian. She just wouldn't understand. Or she'd try to steal him, I don't know."

"You have to admit, having your underage daughter dating someone in his sixties-"

"Listen to you… I never thought you'd be such a prude, Brian," Meg cut him off, taking another drag into her lungs.

"A prude? You have to be kidding me, ME? A prude?" He laughed, but it was forced.

Meg shrugged coolly. "You have a problem with my seeing an older man. You tried to expose us the last time, remember? Is it any wonder that I tried to keep this a secret from you?""

At her words, he felt shame and embarrassment. "You're right Meg. I did. Maybe I do have some kind of knee jerk reaction to seeing you with the Mayor. Gosh I'm… I'm sorry."

Meg smiled and scratched behind his ear. "It's ok. Don't worry about it." She exhaled and changed the topic. "How about you? Seeing anybody special?"

"No, no… nobody right now."

"What about Jillian?"

"I try not to think about Jillian. It's too painful. She's just another one who got away."

"She and my mom?"

Brian gaped at Meg's casual tone. "What did you say?"

Meg sighed and flicked the stub of her cigarette off into the grass. "You realize it's not healthy to be so obsessed with my mother, right?"

"I'm not obsessed!"

"Please, Brian. I think I would know."

He had to admit she would. "Fine. So I could be a little bit preoccupied with your mother, it's not hurting anybody."

"You spent the entire week gawking at her Brian."

"I did no such thing!"

Meg had no response for his denial. Instead, she just stared at him, her eyes full of a sympathy he couldn't bear.

"Please Meg,"

"No, it's ok. You don't need to say anything." She picked up her package of smokes from the ground and stood up, brushing herself off. "I think I should go back inside now."

"Meg, no, don't go-"

"It's ok Brian. I'm not mad or anything." She smiled sadly down at him, and he felt his heart twisting his chest. "I just see so many similarities between us. The way I obsessed over Joe. Over you."

"Meg…"

She raised a hand, stopping his words. "Just don't end up the way I did Brian. Find someone who can belong to you. Or the heartache will eat you alive."

He couldn't help it. Sober Brian would never have asked, but drunken Brian, he had to know. "You had heartache… over me?"

Her smile grew in warmth, but the pity in her eyes also deepened. "Good night Brian."

He watched as Meg walked away into the night, heading for the back door. She opened it without looking back, and then she was gone. It was as if she'd never been there, like they'd never spoken. Never shared.

Brian lit another cigarette. Somehow, the night had gotten darker, and the stars no longer seemed quite so bright.


End file.
